Just 31% of 18-29 year-olds approve of President Obama's handling of youth unemployment. More than two-thirds of this age cohort is very unhappy with Obama
In 1956, Adlai Stevenson was campaigning for the presidency a second time and stopped by the campus of the University of Miami. I was asked to join the line of students who got to shake his hand. Suffice to say I was utterly clueless as to who he was and what the election was all about. I was 19 at the time, Eisenhower was President and on his way to a second term. I was a sophomore in every sense of the word.
In those halcyon, post-war years the economy was booming and students could look forward to finding jobs and beginning their careers. Some of us were subject to the Draft in which we gave two years to service in the armed forces after college, but it was understood that this was a debt we owed our nation.
It is very different for today’s college students and graduates.
In an August 1 Wall Street Journal column, Daniel Henninger noted that a WSJ-NBC poll indicated that “enthusiasm for the election among voters aged 18-34 is sloping downward, from above 60% when Mr. Obama was new to below 50% now that he is known.”
“Whatever change the youth vote had hoped for then, the most compelling delta in their world since is the rate of non-employment for those aged 18 to 24, which has risen nearly 16%. A study compiled recently by the Associated Press, based on academic surveys, said the combined rate of youth unemployment and underemployment was an astounding 50%.”
Does anyone seriously think those young people who do rouse themselves to vote are going to stick with Obama?
Generation Opportunity is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to engage younger Americans, generally 18-29 years of age, “who find themselves dissatisfied with the status quo and willing to create a better tomorrow.” And who does not, at this point, want a better tomorrow?
An April 16-22 poll that Generation Opportunity commissioned revealed the following information:
77% of young people ages 18-29 either have or will delay a major life change or purchase due to economic factors:
44% delay buying a home;
28% delay saving for retirement;
27% delay paying off student loans or other debt;
27% delay going back to school/getting more education or training;